Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation which handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programming in French for Switzerland. Two RTS channels cater for Switzerland's 1.6 million French speakers. RTS Un is a mainstream channel showcasing its major in-house productions and is complemented by RTS Deux which leans towards sports, the arts and youth interest programmes.
Recently, the channel invested in a new, fully automated HD television studio dedicated to news programming, which would see it take a new innovative approach to every aspect of production. Following a series of unsatisfactory trials, the channel turned to its established supplier and special projects consultants, Swiss Light Consulting, to provide an LED solution in respect of the studio's working lights.
In the course of testing a number of available options, RTS had discovered that the glare from many of them inconvenienced the studio technicians when they looked up at the technical grid. As well as the problems caused by excessive glare, the trials, for the most part, produced poor light quality that detracted from the TV lighting used during broadcasting. The brief for Swiss Light Consulting was therefore clear - to install non dazzle, non-glare fixtures with a high CRI (Colour Rendering Index) of 90+ that would work effectively alongside the TV lighting.
Swiss Light Consulting opted for the GDS ArcSystem. 16 x ArcSystem Pro Fixture 8 Cell 4100K 37 Degree Black Yoke fixtures were employed, wirelessly controlled, powerful enough for the size of the studio and compact enough to fit between the tracks of the grid. The outcome was exactly what the studio required. With the dazzle and glare problems eliminated, the technicians are all able to work (and look up) comfortably. The set/deco crew now have an excellent illumination field for setting up stage sets and the camera operators have suggested that it would be possible to actually shoot with the ArcSystem lights alone.
Alain Suard of Swiss Light Consulting comments, "There is no doubt that the ArcSystem 8 cells were perfect for this job. As soon as RTS presented us with their requirements I knew immediately that GDS ArcSystem could easily meet the needs of the project. All the studio technicians are very happy since they can carry out tasks without suffering from the dazzle and glare that can really obstruct their work and I'm sure the studio controllers are happy with a great solution that will need no attention and in time, save them money. GDS dealt with all our requirements promptly and efficiently with the result that the job was completed quickly and easily."
Matt Lloyd, managing director of GDS adds, "The use of ArcSystem in a brand new TV studio such as this really drives home the message that this is a product with immense scope."
(Jim Evans)
